Supreme Court rejects Republican appeal, allowing Pennsylvania to count disputed provisional ballots

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — Supreme Court An emergency appeal from Republicans in Pennsylvania that could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted was rejected Friday as presidential campaigns raced in the final days before the election in the nation’s largest battleground state.

The justices left in place the state Supreme Court, which had ruled that election officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.

The decision is a victory for voting rights advocates who have been trying to push counties — especially Republican-controlled counties — to allow voters to cast provisional ballots on Election Day if mail-in ballots are rejected due to a variety of errors. .

Although the Supreme Court’s decision was a setback for Republicans, the GOP separately claimed victory in a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. That court rejected a last-ditch effort by voting rights advocates to ensure that mail-in ballots without an accurate, hand-written date on the outer envelope would still count in this year’s presidential election.

The rulings are the latest in four years of litigation over mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, where every vote truly counts in presidential races. Republicans have tried to push for the strictest possible interpretation of mail-in voting, which has been used predominantly by Democrats in dozens of lawsuits.

Taken together, Friday’s nearly simultaneous rulings will put a heavy emphasis on helping thousands of people provisionally vote on Election Day if mail-in ballots are rejected, potentially opening up more lawsuits.

As of Thursday, nearly 9,000 of the more than 1.6 million returned ballots had arrived at election offices around Pennsylvania without a secrecy envelope, signature or handwritten date, according to state records.

Pennsylvania is this year’s biggest presidential election battleground, with 19 delegate votes, and is expected to play a huge role in determining the election between Republicans and Republicans. Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

It was decided by tens of thousands of votes in 2016 when Trump won and in 2020 when Democrat Joe Biden won.

A voting rights attorney in Pennsylvania who helped file both lawsuits said another lawsuit over undated ballots is almost certain to come before the state Supreme Court within days of the presidential election, if it’s close at all.

“It’s almost certain that this issue will come up again after the election, especially if it’s a close election,” Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said in an interview.

In its unsigned, two-page decision, the state’s highest court put on hold a lower court order requiring counties to count ballots. The high court said the case would not apply to the presidential election, which will be decided next week, but stated that there was a high probability that the case would be decided at a later date.

The decisions come as voters had their last chance to file on Friday. mail ballot A statewide county in a prominent suburb of Philadelphia has given voters who didn’t receive their ballots by mail another chance to do so.

A judge in Erie County in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania ruled Friday in a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party that nearly 15,000 people who applied for a mail-in ballot but did not receive one could go to their county elections office and get a replacement by Monday. .

The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot has passed in Pennsylvania. But the judge’s decision means the Erie County elections office will be open every day through Monday for voters to walk in, cancel a mail-in ballot they didn’t receive and pick up a new ballot at the counter.

A court in Philadelphia’s Bucks County suburb set a 5 p.m. deadline for voters there to apply and receive a mail ballot after a judge granted a three-day extension in response to a Trump campaign lawsuit accusing the county of flouting the rules. law by removing voters from election offices had difficulty meeting demand.

Long lines formed outside the county elections office in Doylestown throughout the day; It snaked across the pavement, a process that took about two hours Friday afternoon.

Nakesha McGuirk, 44, a Democrat from Bensalem, measured the line and said: “I didn’t expect the line to be this long. But I’m going to keep it up.”

McGuirk, a Harris supporter, faces a long commute next week and is worried about her ability to get to the polls on Election Day. “I thought it would be better to do it early rather than run the risk of not getting home in time to go vote,” he said.

Republican voter Patrick Lonieski of Buckingham, a Trump supporter, also found it more convenient because of his work schedule to vote Friday in a county he described as “crucial” to the outcome.

“I just want to make sure my ballot is entered and counted,” said Lonieski, 62, who was joined by his 18-year-old son, who was voting for the first time.

As the time approached 17:00, the queue gradually decreased.

As election workers gleefully counted down the seconds, the last straggler began running to meet the deadline. “Let’s go! Hurry! You can do this! shouted a spectator. When he walked through the door just in time, people started applauding.

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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report. Levy reported from Harrisburg.